This invention relates to the art of weather barriers and, more particularly, to an installable and removable external weather barrier for an opening through a wall of a building and comprising thin plastic film adhesively mounted on external mounting surfaces surrounding the opening.
It is of course well known to provide weather barriers across openings such as those for doors and windows in homes or other buildings for purposes of eliminating drafts and conserving energy in connection with the internal heating of the building. Such weather barriers have included exteriorly mounted glass or plastic storm doors and windows which are convertible to provide screens to facilitate opening the interior of the building to outside air when desired. While such devices serve their intended purpose, they are expensive, cumbersome to use if they are the type which requires removal and replacement of glass panels and screens and, if of the self-storing type, often become difficult to operate with ease after a period of use and weathering which results in oxidation and/or scoring of the metal which impairs relative sliding movement therebetween.
As an alternative to such exterior weather barrier arrangements, or as a supplement thereto, a variety of internally mountable weather barriers have been proposed. One of the more recent of such interior arrangements is provided by mounting a double faced adhesive tape on a supporting surface such as the frame and sill of a window, adhering a heat shrinkable plastic film to the adhesive tape, and heating the film such as by use of a hair blow-dryer to shrink the film to a taut, wrinkle free condition. The shear strength of the adhesive tape is sufficient for the bond to be maintained between the film and tape and between the tape and mounting surface under the tensile force of the shrunk film and, at the end of the period of use of the barrier, the film and adhesive tape are pulled away from the mounting surface and discarded. Such an internal weather barrier is relatively inexpensive and easy to install and, because of relatively stable temperature and humidity conditions within a building, remains stable in its mounted condition throughout its period of use. Moreover, because of the internal mounting relative to window or door glass and the mounting of the adhesive tape on surfaces which most often are not exposed to direct sunlight, the plastic film and adhesive tape remain stable against the effects of ultraviolet light during the period of installation of the weather barrier.
While plastic film barriers of the foregoing character serve their intended weatherproofing purposes, the interior mounting of the film is considered by many to be unattractive and, while the adhesive tape is intended to be separable from the mounting surface after use without staining the latter or leaving any adhesive thereon, there is apprehension in this respect on the part of potential users. Other concerns of potential users include the fact that hardware for curtains, drapes, window shades or the like may have to be removed to facilitate mounting of the tape and plastic film and/or that such window or door accessories themselves would have to be removed or would not be accessible for opening and closing displacements thereof relative to a window or door in that they would be behind the plastic film.
Some homeowners, as an alternative to the foregoing weather barrier arrangements, have attempted to provide exterior weather barriers for doors and windows by positioning sheets of plastic material across the opening and suitably securing the plastic in place such as through the use of masking tape, staples, nails, tacks and the like. Such effort most often are basically unacceptable and ineffective for a number or reasons, including the damaging or marring of the mounting surfaces through the use of staples, nails and the like, and the inability of masking or other tapes or adhesives to maintain the plastic in place for an extended period of time when exposed to rain, wind, snow and gusting winds and variations in temperature from below freezing to as high as 100.degree. F. Moreover the plastic materials used in connection with such efforts often are hazy, cannot be maintained with any degree of tautness under the varying weather conditions to which they are exposed, and often crack or tear in a relatively short period of time as a result of such exposure.
While it might appear obvious to at least attempt to avoid the foregoing disadvantages of exterior weather barriers and of an interior tape and heat shrink film type weather barrier by installing the latter on the exterior side of a building window or door, the tape and film materials will not perform satisfactorily under the weather conditions encountered, and the working conditions under which such an exterior system would have to be installed make it potentially dangerous for the person doing the installation and thus undesirable. More particularly in this respect, the heat shrink film, when installed and distended such as by the impact of rain and gusty winds thereon, will not over an extended period of such exposure return to its undistended taut condition. Thus, the film becomes unattractive in appearance and, through looseness, more subject to tearing or separation from the mounting surfaces in that winds whip the plastic and thus severely impact load the adhesive. Further, the shrink film and tape provided for interior barriers are adversely affected if used exteriorly by ultraviolet light and varying temperature and humidity conditions and, for these reasons too, subject the exterior installation to failure.
With respect to installing such a heat shrink system exteriorly, the exterior installation would require, at least in a majority of instances, the use of an ungrounded hair blow-dryer with an extension cod which would subject the installer to potentially dangerous electrical shock. Furthermore, the use of a blow-dryer in connection with an installation requiring the use of a ladder would necessitate the installer carrying the blow-dryer up the ladder together with the weather barrier materials to be installed, or would PG,5 require the installer to undergo the inconvenience of installing the weather barrier materials and then descending and again ascending the ladder with the blow-dryer to shrink the film. Accordingly, considerable inconvenience as well as potential injury would accompany efforts to externally install such a shrink film system.